This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for cooling white cement clinker sintered in a rotary tubular kiln. Conventionally, the white cement clinker is, after its discharge from the kiln, quenched in a first cooling stage by means of a coolant, such as water, in an oxygen-poor environment. In the region of the first cooling stage a comminuting apparatus is provided. In a last cooling stage the white cement clinker is further cooled by air which is subsequently reintroduced into the rotary kiln as combustion air.
A process of the above-outlined type is disclosed in German Patent Nos. 3,521,586 and 3,521,587. The white cement clinker exiting from the rotary kiln is classified into two fractions in a first cooling stage and thereafter the coarse fraction is comminuted in a comminuting device and eventually both fractions are introduced into the last cooling stage for subsequent cooling.